Ethanol Production Lab. Paul Anson and Bayert Salverda. The purpose of this lab was to create ethanol using the wet milling process using corn meal and yeast as reactants. The lab had two phases, creating the starch through steeping the cornmeal in water, and the wet milling which was distilling cornstarch with yeast and water. In this lab the results were sound but the ethanol produced did not reach the expected yield. There were some sources of error present that could account for this; the distillation apparatus not being fully put together which let gas escape or not fully evaporating the ethanol when distilled. Though this lab produced a less than expected yield, the procedure and methods used were sound. Some suggestions for others who attempt to create ethanol through wet milling is to make sure the corn starch is fully separated by filtering the cornstarch from the endosperm. With the starch perfectly separated the production of ethanol is simple and hard to do wrongly.
Key Words: Starch, Wet Milling, Endosperm.
Calculations
1. Cornmeal (H6C8O3) + Water (H2O)=Starch (C6H11O6)
H6C8O3+ 3H2O=C6H11O6 + C2OH
2. Yeast turns the starch into Ethanol
C6H12O6 = 2C2H5OH + 2CO2
Figure
Table:
Observations
1. Cornmeal + Water
· Opaque yellow liquid · Solid at the bottom
2. Cornmeal + Water after 48 hours (Steeped Cornmeal)
· Clearer water but still with yellow tint · Layered · Top layer is powdery (endosperm) · Bottom layer is pebbly like crystal salt (germ)
3. Germ + Amylase Enzyme
· Starch forming
4. Starch + Yeast + Water
· While boiling sometimes boils over. · Seems to be stirring from the bottom up. · Boils at 78-80 degrees Celsius.
5. Distill
· Boiling point 78-80 degrees Celsius. · Clear like water · Ethanol
Citations
References Gray, T. (2007). BATHTUB ETHANOL. Popular Science, 271(2), 92. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Metabolic Engineering of a Thermophilic Bacterium to Produce Ethanol at High Yield
A. Joe Shaw, Kara K. Podkaminer, Sunil G. Desai, John S. Bardsley, Stephen R. Rogers, Philip G. Thorne, David A. Hogsett and Lee R. Lynd
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abstract
Key Words: Starch, Wet Milling, Endosperm.
Calculations
- 1. Cornmeal (H6C8O3) + Water (H2O)=Starch (C6H11O6)
- H6C8O3+ 3H2O=C6H11O6 + C2OH
- 2. Yeast turns the starch into Ethanol
- C6H12O6 = 2C2H5OH + 2CO2
FigureTable:
· Solid at the bottom
(Steeped Cornmeal)
· Layered
· Top layer is powdery (endosperm)
· Bottom layer is pebbly like crystal salt (germ)
· Seems to be stirring from the bottom up.
· Boils at 78-80 degrees Celsius.
· Clear like water
· Ethanol
Citations
- References Gray, T. (2007). BATHTUB ETHANOL. Popular Science, 271(2), 92. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
- Metabolic Engineering of a Thermophilic Bacterium to Produce Ethanol at High Yield
A. Joe Shaw, Kara K. Podkaminer, Sunil G. Desai, John S. Bardsley, Stephen R. Rogers, Philip G. Thorne, David A. Hogsett and Lee R. LyndProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America